Fascinating wrecks around Alderney

Challenging tides and rip currents have left numerous wrecks to explore around the island.

This most westerly Channel Island has powerful tides and a rocky coastline. Over the centuries this has proved the undoing of dozens of ships, including one known as the Elizabethan wreck.

Each shipwreck represents a moment frozen in time. Alderney’s Elizabethan wreck has excited naval historians and divers alike as it is thought to be the only known wreck of an English warship from the Elizabethan age. Originally discovered in 1977, it has attracted many visitors to the Channel Islands. Alderney Museum is proud to host a large number of fascinating artefacts which have been retrieved from this wreck.

The Elizabethan vessel is known to have sunk towards the end of the sixteenth century. It is, perhaps, even one of the ships which fought against the Spanish Armada. The quantity types of armaments found in the Elizabethan wreck provides a unique example of a uniform weapon system on a vessel of this era. This system is said to have been the key to British naval dominance up until the twentieth century.

You can find out more about the Elizabethan wreck by following the link to the Alderney Elizabethan Wreck website.

Le Puits Jervais, just off the headland, was the scene of the wrecking of the 1,500-ton Shell tanker Point Law, which broke up where she lay.

In Clonque Bay the SS Emily Everson was claimed by the rocks. The wreck can be seen at low tide. On a very low tide you can even walk out and look inside its boiler, but great care should be taken as the tide comes in very quickly